Just a day and a half after Hurricane Harvey made landfall over Texas as a Category 4 storm, Buckner International leaders were assessing damage to its ministry locations, checking on affected staff and clients, and planning a relief response primarily in Beaumont and Houston.

Buckner President and CEO Albert Reyes said the ministry’s Executive Leadership Team was busy Sunday “assessing the safety of our staff and those we serve in Southeast Texas and calculating our relief options based on how we can best serve.”

Reyes said he had mobilized the Buckner Humanitarian Aid Crisis Team, or HACT, prior to the storm’s strike, adding that the team was “working with our ministry partners to determine our crisis assessment, response and mobilization.”

He also asked for prayer for affected clients and staff. “We’ve heard from all of our ministries in Beaumont and Houston, and they are assessing the safety of clients and our co-workers. With more rain expected in Southeast Texas, this situation is far from over. Until we can determine the ways we can reach out to those affected, we need to pray.”

Safety for Buckner staff and their families. “These reports are very preliminary, but least two of our staff in Houston had to be evacuated from their flooded homes. Another has reported a flooded home and several more have flooded cars.”

Family Hope Center in Houston/Aldine: Safety for families and children Buckner serves. He explained that many clients served by the Buckner Family Hope Center did not have the resources to evacuate, and staff is in the process of contacting them for their needs. He said that while Beaumont ministries, Buckner foster parents in Conroe and North Houston and Buckner Family Pathways residents in Conroe and Houston reported in safely, “prayers are still needed as rains continue.”

If you feel led to support the families affected by the storm, you can make a gift today by going to www.buckner.org/harveyrelief. Any proceeds received in excess of relief efforts will be used for general ministry funding.